GREECE BURNS, THE GREEKS ARE REVOLTING!

The post title says it all. This is what happens when a nation has to seek an International Monetary Fund loan. Greece has to bow to its demands, otherwise it would have gone bust. And Greece will remain strangled for some time to come. Malaysia would have faced the same situation if it had gone for IMF during the 1997-1998 financial crisis. But we didn't. Thank God. And thank you, Dr. Mahathir!

Video: Greece doomed, economy total farce & fiction!

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The Greek parliament has approved new harsh austerity legislature needed to secure a 130-billion-euro bailout from the EU and the IMF in efforts to avoid devastating default. This comes amid violent riots against the vote in Athens. ­The lawmakers voted early Monday in favor of the bill that will cut 15,000 public-sector jobs and lower the minimum wage by 20 per cent. Patrick Young, from investment consultants, DV Advisors, says whatever happens in Greece, there's no saving it from a collapse that will be felt across Europe.

The Greeks are revolting!

The Greeks continue to demand that they be allowed to live on billions in loans that they never have to repay. Anything less than a continuous pump of other people’s money, and they will – evidently – burn their own country to the ground.

Reuters reports:

Greece still to convince Europe after rescue deal

(Reuters) - The Greek government came under pressure on Monday to convince skeptical European capitals that it would stick to the terms of a multi-billion-euro rescue package endorsed by lawmakers during violent protests on the streets of Athens.

Parliament backed drastic cuts in wages, pensions and jobs on Sunday as the price of a 130-billion-euro ($172 billion) bailout by the European Union and International Monetary Fund, as running battles between police and rioters outside parliament drove home a sense of deepening crisis.

The EU welcomed the vote, but told Greece it had more to do to secure the funds and avoid a disorderly default next month that would have "devastating consequences."

Euro zone finance ministers meet on Wednesday, and the fragile ruling coalition of Prime Minister Lucas Papademos has until then to say how 325 million euros of the 3.3 billion euros in budget savings will be achieved.

A government spokesman said political leaders also had until Wednesday to give a written commitment that they will implement the terms of the deal, reflecting fatigue in Brussels over what EU leaders say have been a string of broken promises.

The spokesman said an election would be held in April, when deep public anger over the second round of austerity since 2010 could drive voters to the left and right and test Greece's commitment to the cuts.

First reaction from euro zone paymaster Germany was cautious.

"Now we need to wait and see what comes after the legislation," Economy Minister and deputy Prime Minister Philipp Roesler said on German television.

"We have taken one step in the right direction but we are still far from the goal," he said.

Austrian reaction, too, was muted.

"Adopting the austerity package is one thing, implementing it is another, and this is something in which we have to place great store," said Austrian Vice Chancellor and Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger.

Greece needs the international funds before March 20 to meet debt repayments of 14.5 billion euros, or suffer a chaotic default that would send shockwaves through the euro zone.

Worst violence in years

EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said a disorderly default would have devastating consequences for Greek society.

"I am quite confident that the other conditions, including the identification of concrete measures of 325 million euros, will be completed by the next meeting of the Eurogroup, which would then decide on the adoption of the programme," he said.

Papademos had warned of a "social explosion" if lawmakers rejected the deal and Greece defaulted. But the unrest outside, and a rebellion by 43 parliamentarians of the ruling coalition, suggested Athens might already be on the brink.

"The people yesterday sent a message: Enough is enough! They can't take it anymore," said Ilias Iliopoulos, general secretary of public sector union ADEDY.

Firefighters on Monday doused the smoldering remains of cinemas, shops and banks set ablaze in the capital during the worst violence in years.

The riots spread to Greece's second city of Thessaloniki, towns across the country and the islands of Crete and Corfu.

Critics on Monday said more austerity would only condemn the economy to an ever-deepening downward spiral, but Greek political leaders have offered few alternatives.

Conservative New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras says the country should focus more on stimulating growth with tax cuts and privatization, while some ordinary Greeks say they have had enough of the message from Brussels and that a messy default can be no worse than the painful medicine they are currently being asked to swallow.

"Yesterday's vote in the parliament may have saved the country temporarily from default, but the Greek economy is going bankrupt and the country's political system is failing," the head of the Greek Commerce Confederation, Vassilis Korkidis, said in a statement.

The cuts include a 22 percent reduction in the minimum wage and 150,000 jobs from the public sector workforce by 2015.

The deal provides for a bond swap to ease Greece's debt burden by cutting the real value of private-sector investors' bond holdings by some 70 percent.

Read full report.

Video: Athens Riots

Athens Riots: Mikis Theodorakis with…Gas Mask Against Tear Gas Attack (video)

A veteran politician and world famous music composer joins the anti-austerity protests before he goes to the Parliament to attend the voting of the new loan agreement. Mikis Theodorakis gets out of the car that has taken him there together with Manolis Glezos. Theodorakis is 85 years old, Glezos is 89. Two resistance fighters in progressive age. Moments earlier, the riots have started in Athens. The police fired tear gas. Tall and imperious, Theodorakis walks among the crowd as the tear gas devices explode over his head.

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